America’s Greenest Street Eats Smog

Chicago is building a reputation for sustainable technology thanks to one of its not-so-mean thoroughfares — what city officials call the “greenest street in America.”

The Chicago Department of Transportation unveiled the innovation on Oct. 9 in the city’s Pilsen neighborhood. The $14 million project includes the first commercial road use of photocatalytic cement. The material gobbles up nitrogen oxide gases from the surrounding air in a catalytic reaction that is powered by sunlight falling on the road surface.